The Deathless
by snowspell
Summary: Dr. Erskine died but the experiments never stopped. Victims and volunteers alike die to the mad science that might create the perfect killer. The Avengers assemble to stop one country from succeeding and to rescue those that never wanted to be lab rats.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I don't speak any Arabic at all so please excuse my terrible translations here.**

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"Sir, Director Fury wishes to video conference with you," Jarvis said politely.

Tony turned off the blowtorch and flipped his visor up, "Put him on, Jarvis."

"Very good sir."

One of the digital display panels lit up, displaying the grim visage of Nick Fury. "What's shakin' Nick?"

Fury's frown deepened slightly at Tony's cavalier attitude, "We have a mission for you. I need you to come in for briefing at 9 am tomorrow."

Tony considered making a smart remark but the truth was that he had been a little bored since the Loki disaster. He was sort of looking forward to a mission. Putting on his most serious face he answered in a solemn tone. "You can count on me, Director Fury. I won't let you down."

He caught a moment of Fury's flummoxed expression before cutting the feed. Tony cackled to himself at the reaction. If he had known it would get that kind of response, he would have tried it ages ago.

_-9:00 AM; Thursday-_

Nick Fury stood before the assembled Avengers, hands clasped behind his back.

"Avengers, we have a situation that needs your particular talents. Agent Romanov recently returned with information that Syria has been running a secret agency that is attempting to create super soldiers. Our intel says that they have at least three subjects that have some form of success. "

"So what do you want us to do about it?" Tony asked with a calculating look in his eye, "Science departments aren't exactly illegal."

"No, but kidnapping is. Only one of the subjects is Syrian. The others are both American and I can promise you that they didn't sign up for this voluntarily."

Steve's lips tightened as images of Bucky strapped to a table flashed through his mind, "I'm in. What's the play?"

Nick turned to Natasha and nodded for her to take over. She brought up a projected map of Syria in the center of the table. "The department is called Alensan Tslyh Aljysh. It means the Military Human Weaponization Project. They have been attempting to create a perfect soldier through everything from chemistry to radiation bombardment to genetic splicing. Recently they got a hold of some people that have some kind of ability they wanted. I wasn't able to find out what those abilities were but it's a good bet that they have military applications."

Natasha switched from the map to a spread of documents in Arabic and their English translations. Most of them documented failed experiments but one was a list of current subjects. There were three of them but they were at the bottom of the page. If there was a second page there was no telling how many people were trapped in this facility.

"These guys aren't much more sophisticated than Josef Mengele was. We can't be certain that we will find the hostages alive. Our job is to get in, destroy their research and rescue the hostages if possible. Hawkeye will be on point. I'll lead us through hostile territory to the installation. That's where you take over Cap. You'll lead us in from there. Tony, you're the fastest and most maneuverable. You may need to get those hostages out of their in a hurry if it all goes tits up."

Tony blinked and turned to Clint, "Did she just say tits up?"

Clint let a smirk curl the edge of his lip for a moment and just nodded.

"I think I just fell in love."

Steve frowned, "Hey Tony, wanna keep your head in the game here?"

"Aye, aye captain," he replied with a smirk before turning his considerable mind to their mission.

Natasha's knowledge of the seedy underbelly of Eastern Europe got them into Syria without issue. The Installation was partially underground with a large concrete dome showing above the barren landscape. Hawkeye dropped from his perch to join the rest of the team, "No movement recently. Looks like the base is running on minimum staff right now." Captain America nodded and moved forward, taking point from Black Widow and moving to the door.

"Got a quiet way to get this open?" he questioned.

Ironman's arm began to glow as he swiftly cut the door from the lock to prevent alarms from sounding. They moved through the empty entry quickly. Natasha was able to get a layout of the place and had a good idea where the subjects were held and where the research was.

"Alright. Widow and Hawkeye, you find that research and destroy it. Ironman, let's go find those prisoners." Widow nodded and lead Hawkeye up a set of stairs as Cap and Ironman continued down the winding subterranean corridors. Suddenly they came upon two guards holding AK-47s. One of their shouted, "Aldkhla!" as they turned to fire on the Avengers. Captain America slammed his shield into one of the guards heads before he could squeeze off a round while Ironman simply punched the other guard out. Captain America turned to his friend, "Punching, really? Isn't that sort of my thing?"

Ironman shrugged and Steve would bet money that he was smirking behind the helmet, "What can I say? You're a bad influence on me, Cap." Captain America shook his head and pulled the guard's key from his pocket before opening the steel door they had been guarding. Inside was a narrow hall with a dozen barred cells on either side. With a glance of understanding they each took one side and moved down the row of cells, looking for prisoners. The first few cells showed no signed of recent occupation.

"Shit" Tony said from just ahead. Cap turned to look at the cell and felt a wave of pity hit him. The man inside looked like he couldn't be more than twenty. His body was covered in crudely stitched wounds. Dirty brown hair fell over dead brown eyes that stared vacantly at the wall. His hand was pressed against it, as if he were taking comfort from the solid cement. Captain America felt a cold, steel hand rest for a moment on his shoulder before they moved in unison to the next cell. A person crawled towards the back of the cell, every movement showing her fear. Her long brown hair was dirty and tangled and she was dressed in a plain white shift that fell to cover her feet. Steve knelt to bring his face to a level with hers, "It's okay ma'am. I'm Captain America and we're here to get you out."

The woman stopped moving and turned her head to look at him before letting out an incredulous giggle, "Captain America," she mumbled, staring off into space, "I finally cracked up." A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up before turning into a defeated sob as she buried her face into her knees.

"Great job, Cap," Tony said as he grabbed the bars and pulled them apart, "Maybe you shouldn't introduce yourself to someone as a person that's supposed to be dead." He stepped through and gently pulled the woman to his chest before standing with her in his arms, "Hey, good-looking, where you from, huh?" The woman's tears stopped but she was still shivering. It looked like Tony had it under control so Captain America quickly checked the other cells. All were empty, although one looked to have had an occupant recently.

He returned to find that Tony had finally gotten the woman to stop trembling. She was answering his questions, although mostly in monosyllables. "Ma'am," he said gently. He didn't want to scare to woman again but he needed to find out if there were any more survivors. The woman turned to look at him with bleak, broken eyes, "Captain America. You're my grandpa's hero," she said absently. "Ma'am, we need to know if there were any other people here."

Her eyes cleared for a moment, "Two. We talked sometimes. But Ahmad didn't speak English much. He wanted to be here," disgust and disbelief mingled in her tone, "He thought it was an honor to be sliced and stabbed and crushed." She shook her head to bring herself out of whatever nightmare image clouded her mind. "Ahmad was taken away yesterday. That's where they all went, the scientists. Guess they finally succeeded. Too late for Jay though. Too late." She sunk back into herself then, as if the effort to speak had drained her. Tony nodded his head to the exit and they turned as one to leave.

"Widow, you copy?" Cap asked into their com unit.

"I'm here."

"We got one prisoner out. One more is dead and a Syrian man was taken away yesterday. Sounds like they succeeded in whatever they were doing to him. Is there anything in there about it?"

There was silence for a moment before Hawkeye answered, "We're destroying all of their equipment but we'll keep the data files. If they did succeed we may run up against this guy. It would be good to know what his weak points are."

"Good. Let's get out of here."

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**Please leave a comment. I usually have no idea where I'm going with stories so I'm very open to suggestions.  
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	2. Chapter 2

**I am not from New York and have only been there a grand total of once when I was ten so I apologize if I am totally destroying the credibility of this iconic city.**

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Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep

Lily slowly became aware of droning sound of medical equipment as she swam her way up from unconsciousness. The sound reminded her that she had survived another medical procedure to try to extract the secrets of her genetics. The thought had ceased to bring any comfort and was now only the beginning of a countdown until the next time them brought her out and tried to find a new way to kill her. As her mind became clearer she realized that the air smelled…strange. She couldn't smell the dry, dusty smell that seeped into everything in her own personal Hell. Instead the air smelled of antiseptic and chemical cleanliness. Her curiosity wormed its way through the apathy and she reluctantly opened her eyes to look around. The room was large and brightly lit with medical devices lining two walls and cabinets lining the third. It was basically what she expected but it was still off. The room was too clean, the equipment to high-tech. Her torturers had taken her to medical examination rooms before but they had never been this advanced before. Lily was so caught up in her observation of the room she hadn't noticed that the heart rate monitor had picked up its pace in time with her own accelerated heartbeat. Just then the door opened to let in a man with dark curly hair that was greying slightly at the temples. Lily blinked in confusion. He looked American or European but definitely not Middle Eastern.

Noticing that she was awake he gave her a kind smile before taking his glasses off and cleaning them on the hem of his plum button down, "You woke up early. With how dehydrated you were I thought you would sleep another day or so. How are you feeling?" he asked as he stepped toward her. Lily flinched away from him before stopping herself. After a couple of beatings she had learned not to try to escape the medical bays but flinching was something she just couldn't train herself out of. Luckily her captors didn't seem to care, as long as she stayed on the exam table.

Noticing the recoil, the man stopped and brought his arms down to his side in a deliberately unthreatening gesture, "Do you remember what happened?"

Lily felt like she was on slightly more even ground. This was a question that was normal, even if the individual asking it was an anomaly. They often asked her for details about what was done to her and what she had felt. She pummeled her mind for the last torture session but couldn't find it. She remembered having her bones in her hand broken but she had already been through the medical exam for that. After that she had been left in her cell while they took out Ahmad. The scientists had been excited over the changes to him after the last procedure and had left her and Jay-

Her mind stuttered to a stop. No, don't think about it. She ruthlessly shoved that thought to the back of her mind before turning to reluctantly shake her head at the man watching her. He sighed in resignation and slowly moved around her bed to pull a stool out and sit on it. He made sure to keep at least five feet away from her, "Alright. Let's start with something simpler. What's your name?"

Lily frowned at this question. They had interrogated her in the first few days of her captivity. Why were they asking again? Maybe they were afraid of brain damage.

"Lily Owens."

"Hi Lily. I'm Bruce," he said with that same almost shy smile. She noticed that he didn't try to shake her hand.

"What's the last thing you remember?" he queried.

Lily thought about this for a moment, "I was in my cell. Ahmad was taken out. No one came to give us food or water. Then there was a loud commotion and…" she trailed off in confusion.

"Yes? And?"

"Nothing. I had a dream, that's all."

Bruce nodded in understanding, "Lily, you were being kept in a Syrian detainment center. A few days ago a group of American agents found out about that center and, what was being done to people taken there," he said, delicately avoiding exactly what was done, "They went to Syria and got you out. You probably remember some of them but you were extremely dehydrated at the time. Your memories may feel more like dreams."

Lily slowly sat up at this explanation. She felt hope flicker to life inside her. The too-modern equipment, the American talking to her, the hazy memory of her cell bars being pulled apart with a shriek of metal, could it be true? Gathering her courage she asked, "Who came to get me? Who did I see?" She had to have some proof that it had really happened.

Bruce leaned forward slightly, "A group called the Avengers. You were rescued by Ironman and Captain America."

Lily felt her head swimming and slowly dropped back to her bed. It had to be true, didn't it? They couldn't have fabricated all of this and she was no medical student. Even insane, she couldn't make up some of the machines that filled the room. "I'm home," she said before a strangled sob forced its way out of her throat. She turned her head into her pillow as more sobs racked her body. She felt herself being lifted into a sitting position and then pulled into a warm, hard chest as she continued to cry in pain and sorrow and relief. She wasn't sure how long she wept before she finally was able to control her emotions again. She straightened slightly to find that the man, Bruce, had pulled her into his lap and was rocking her gently. He wasn't shushing her or trying to get her to stop crying. He had just let her go through whatever that was. A wave of gratitude swept through her. Bruce just looked down into her glistening eyes and nodded his understanding. After a few minutes more he gently pulled away from her and resumed his seat on the rolling stool, "Why don't we check your vitals and then get you some food."

A few hours later found her sitting cross-legged on the bed listening to Bruce talk about some of the things she had missed and eating a bowl of light soup with a roll. Bruce was apparently a bit worried that anything more substantial would make her up-chuck all over the very clean floor. She was not too surprised that she had been held captive for over five months. Bruce talked about some of the changes in New York in that time, although she got the feeling he was glossing over a few points. He was probably worried she would have a mental collapse…again. Lily goggled at the thought that Captain America had apparently been comatose in the North Pole for over half a century and had only recently been thawed out. How does someone live through that? She was currently in the medical bay of Stark Tower, where the Avengers were based. Lily tried not to connect the super heroes and based pun in her head. Bruce didn't really say what he did, but she figured he was their medic and patched them up after whatever daring heroics they got into was over. He also explained that there were three other members of the Avengers. Two special agents which he described as a bizarre combination of James Bond, Ethan Hunt and Lara Croft.

Lily pushed away her empty bowl and finally asked the question she had been avoiding, "This is the only medical bay isn't it?" she asked somberly.

Bruce seemed to understand where she was going with this line of questioning, "Yes, Lily, it is."

Lily nodded her understanding, "So, Jay…" she couldn't finish the question. She couldn't say the words.

Bruce laid a comforting hand over her trembling ones, "I'm sorry Lily, he didn't make it."

Lily swallowed thickly and nodded again, "He knew. We both did really."

"Knew?" Bruce asked gently.

"That I would live longer than him." she explained simply before becoming quite.

Bruce watcher her for a moment and then, sensing that she needed some time to process, he quietly left the room.

Lily's mind wandered back to that haunted time when all they had to survive, was each other.

"Hey Lil, you okay?"

Lily sat against the cement wall that separated their cells and imagined that Jay was doing the same, "I'll be okay," she said as she cradled her arm protectively to her chest. Burns mottled the skin turning it into a kaleidoscope of black and angry red patches.

"Sounds pretty bad this time," Jay commenting in his oddly amused tone. Jay always sounded amused, as if this were some huge and terrible practical joke being played on them. Lily thought he laughed to stop from crying. She was afraid that if he started he would never stop. She leaned her head back against the wall and hissed in pain. They had long since stopped trying to hide the sounds of pain and fear from each other. It was better to know, better to have someone to go through this with.

"Best thai food?" Jay questioned. They had made up this game weeks ago, or maybe months. Time was fluid when all that marked the passage of days was food and sleep and pain.

Lily thought about it for a moment, "Baan Thai on Broadway. They have the best red curry. Best hotel?"

"The Gramercy Park Hotel on Lexington."

"Best hotel I can afford?"

Jay chucked, "Chelsea Pines on 14th. You'd love the walls. They decorate them with these huge murals of old movie posters like Casa Blanca and The Thing."

"Sounds like it's more my style than Gramercy anyway."

"Probably. Best Theater?"

"Plays or movies?"

"Both."

"Plays…the Keller, right downtown. I saw Wicked there, it was great."

Jay made a mocking sound.

"Hey don't scoff Mr. big-shot New Yorker. We can't all live 10 minutes from Broadway. Movies has got to be 99W Drive-in. They do it totally old school. Double features and these really old cartoon in between."

"I've never been to a drive-in. You'll have to take me when we get back."

Lily shook her head at the memory. That had been early in their captivity. They still played the game all the way to the end, but Jay had stopped talking about them going places after they got out. The last time he had talked about it at all he had simply said, "When you get out of here, you go to New York, okay? I want you to stay at the Chelsea and eat real pizza and watch a show on Broadway. Just, for the love of God, don't go see CATS." Lily had giggled at his aggrieved voice and promised.

Lily bowed her head, fighting back the tears, "I'm here Jay," she whispered, "In New York, just like you said."

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**Just a request to review. I love hearing how I'm doing and getting any ideas you have for what you want to see.  
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